Eat Right, Live Well. Quick Tips for Weight Loss
Maybe you don’t need to lose a lot of weight, but you would like to drop 5 or 10 pounds and keep from gaining it back again. Major weight loss may require major change, but for losing a bit of weight, doing a few things differently can help you keep from packing on the pounds. The foods that are higher calorie in this article aren’t all necessarily bad for you- they just should be used in moderation if you are trying to lose weight.
I once saw a client, a woman in her early 60’s, who seemed to be doing everything she needed to lose weight. She had come to a live-in weight management program and really followed it when she went home. She ate well, watched portion size, and seldom indulged in desserts. We couldn’t figure out why she just wasn’t losing any weight. Finally, after playing 20 questions with her for awhile, I asked her how much juice she drank.
“Oh, about 4 glasses a day,” she replied. Aha! A cup of pure, wholesome juice still has 110 to 150 calories I saw her a year later and she had lost 40 pounds! And one 32 ounce soda (no ice) has as many calories as 4 regular glasses of juice, or more with the 64 ounce variety or more.
Switching to a dash of olive oil plus some herbs and garlic salt can help too. A regular dressing may have over 150 calories a serving, and ¼ cup of dressing may have over 250 calories. If you have salad 5 times a week, that is a savings of 1200 calories a week. This is equivalent to gaining a pound every three weeks, or – get ready—17 pounds in one year. In restaurants, order your dressing on the side, and just dip your fork in it instead of pouring it on the salad.
Share with a friend. Desserts, I mean. One dessert has 500 calories, while a “super-sized” dessert will make you super-sized, perhaps containing 800 to 900 calories a serving. So splitting one with your spouse or significant other— or even getting 2 plates for you and the gal friend you do lunch with—can help you save 300 or 400 calories. Make a habit of it, and that could be a pound a month. Order 2 salads and split the entrée for additional calorie saving.
Reach for the fruit. If you are just a little hungry at the end of a meal, try adding fruit instead of a higher calorie finish for your meal. Depending on what you usually have, this could lower the calories by two to three hundred a day.
Don’t be too rigid, so you don’t feel deprived. Try making lower calorie changes most of the time, but still allow the occasional healthful indulgence like a little pie or some apple cake. And listen to your body. If you aren’t hungry anymore, don’t feel you have to finish it. Take it home, if only to your dog, and try ordering a little less next time.
Laura Pinyan is a Certified Nutrition Specialist and writer with a Master‘s degree in Nutrition.
